In 2017, a speaker at a Rotary Club of Guelph meeting described the weekend food gap suffered by some children in our midst. In fact, it was estimated that some 500 local children face this challenge. Incredulous and concerned to learn about this problem ("In Guelph?"), Rotarians decided to seek out and support whichever groups in Guelph were addressing this problem. After finding that NO ONE was, they decided that “someone” had to do "something" about it - and that ended being a group of Rotarians. The work began with a handful of committed Rotary volunteers plus start-up funding provided by the four Rotary Clubs of Guelph.
.jpg)
Collaboration by all four Guelph Rotary Clubs on this single project was a 'first' in almost 100 years of Rotary in Guelph. Previously, Rotarians from different clubs had often volunteered at each others' events, but not worked jointly on a single project. And this cross-club cooperation has since opened the door to many other cross-club cooperations!
Not wanting to reinvent the wheel, the volunteers found an amazing program called FOOD4KIDS that had started in Hamilton, Ontario in 2012 and had since spread to other nearby communities. A Food4Kids program was already running in Kitchener-Waterloo and that team was willing to help our Guelph volunteers get started locally.
A 15-week pilot program began in Spring 2018. It was highly successful and the ongoing program then launched in earnest in September 2018, growing during that first full school year to 7 schools and 90 children in Guelph. The next school year, 2019-2020, the program grew again, ending the year in June 2020 with 12 schools and 200 children.
Several significant things happened in 2019-2020.
- GOING SOLO AS AN INDEPENDENT CHARITY. Operating originally as a 'branch' of the Food4Kids Waterloo program in Kitchener was invaluable for learning from them, but it presented some administrative burdens for both sides regarding the transfer back and forth of finances and issuance of tax receipts, so it was decided that Guelph would starting working towards "going solo" as a charity. Incorporation followed swiftly, but registering as a charity through the CRA took many months and was eventually obtained on July 1, 2019. The Guelph and Kitchener teams then severed their legal partnership but not their friendship and mutual admiration, which has endured. From then on, Food4Kids Guelph was an independent entity.
- AN AFFILIATION AGREEMENT WITH FOOD4KIDS ONTARIO. By 2019, several independent Food4Kids charities had started up in Southern Ontario and it made sense for them to collaborate in certain joint fundraising, joint buying power and joint sharing of minimum standards and best practices. Food4Kids Ontario was established to help coordinate this collaboration. Food4Kids Guelph gladly signed an "Affiliation Agreement" with Food4Kids Ontario and now maintains regular contact with all the other agencies. Food4Kids Guelph greatly benefits from this
association.
- COVID-19 STRUCK IN MARCH 2020. In mid-March 2020, just before Spring Break, the pandemic struck, starting a series of school closures and also the cancellation of important fundraisers. Unable to deliver weekend food bags to closed schools, Food4Kids pivoted to sending grocery gift cards to families to help with their purchase of food. Due to the dire needs of families, Food4Kids Guelph continued mailing gift cards throughout the summer holidays as well, requiring serious fundraising efforts by the charity. When the next school term began in September 2020, our district school boards established COVID restrictions at school properties limiting access to "essential" people - students, staff and emergency personnel. No parents, no volunteers, so Food4Kids was unable to deliver weekend food bags through the schools, and continued to mail grocery gift cards instead.
After getting back to "normal" after the lengthy COVID closures, and schools re-opened, demand for this program soared as many more families were struggling to make ends meet. In fact, by October 2022, it was estimated that around 700 children in Guelph would benefit from this program. As the entire program was still self-funded (and still being largely run by the original Rotary volunteers, with only one employee now on staff), a waiting list had to be started as more funds were raised through donations, grants, fundraisers and sponsors. As the program was supporting children year-round, during school terms as well as during school holidays, at a cost of around $1,000 per child per year. Food prices had risen enormously!
By June 2023, the program was supporting 439 children at 30 out of Gueph's 39 elementary schools, helping 237 families.
.png)
